by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Special report
Akalis give new Headache to Fadnavis
Amit Shah issues sermon; Amend Nanded Gurudwara Act
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Feb 4
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) may be BJP's ally in Punjab. But it is giving a new headache to the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra.
It now transpires BJP president Amit Shah spoke to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and impressed upon him to re-look at the Gurudwara Act governing the historic Gurudwara at Nanded in the state.
The tiny issue of the Nanded Gurudwara has rocked the decades old relationship of the BJP with the SAD which threatened to walk out of the NDA and quit the Modi government. Sukhbir Singh Badal, president of the SAD, had met the BJP president had told him in no uncertain terms that his party would be left with no option but to quit the NDA. Even Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Food Processing Minister would quit the Modi government if the Maharashtra government continued to play with the religious sentiments of the Sikh community in the state. Since the Akalis had refused to attend the NDA meeting held on Friday last, Amit Shah swung into action and held a marathon meeting with Akali leaders to appease the discontentedThe SAD had made it clear that its core committee would meet and severe ties with the BJP forever.
Obviously, the BJP found the issue too hot to handle after what is happening in the North East and with other allies.
The Akalis told Shah that a section of the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are trying to interfere in matters related to Sikhs. Functionaries who were privy to discussions said the both leaders managed to hammer out a truce after the two-hour meeting.
The bone of contention between the BJP and Akali Dal is over the amendments made in the Takht Hazoor Abchal Nagar Sahi Nanded Act, 1956 by the BJP government in Maharastra. The amendment empowered the Government to nominate six members to the Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee of Nanded and also its chairman. The committee has 15 elected elect members. But the power to nominate as many as six members and also the chairman made the Akalis angry. Their argument was that its a religious matter of the Sikh community and the government should not interfere in the Sikh sangat.
Fadnavis is understood to have told Shah that the amendments to the Act were made at the behest of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, another frontal organisation of the RSS working in the Sikh community.
It is learnt that the Gurudwara Act would be amended shortly ensuring that an elected president is appointed and the state would not nominate six members and number would be brought down to two.
Shah, after talking to Fadnavis assured Badal that the state would not interfere in the affairs of Sikhs. Both parties are learnt to have agreed not to step on each other’s political turf.
Ends
